Preparing uppers for lasting



(No Madel.)

W. 0. GROSS. PREPARING UPPERS FOR LASTING.

Patentgd Apr. 28, 1885.

EYERSv Plmlolilllogmpher. Waslnnglon n. c.

NITED STATES WILLIAM G. GROSS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

PREPARING UPPERS FOR LASTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 316,877, dated April 28, 1885.

Application filed March 13, 1885. (No model.)

T0 on whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM G. GROSS, of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Preparing the Uppers of Boots and Shoes for Lasting, of which the following is a specification.

In my Letters Patent No. 309,440, dated December 16, 1884, l have described a way of preparing boot and shoe uppers for lasting, which consists in combining with the upper a drawcord laid along the edge and upon one of the sides of the upper, and held in place by a loop'thread in such manner that the drawcord passes through the loops of the loopthread alternately from opposite sides thereof, so that .the loops extend across the draw-cord diagonally and alternately in opposite directions. Under this arrangement the loop-thread is applied by stitching; the stitches form the loops, and they are locked so that one loop or stitch cannot-draw upon the other, and the drawcord is independent of and forms no part of the stitch.

My present improvement embodies the general features last above noted. but is directed to a different way of laying the loops across the drawcord. I still lay them diagonally across the draweord; but instead of thus laying them alternately in opposite directions, I now lay them so that they shall extend all in the same direction, so as to be practically parallel with one another, like the folds of a continuous spiral, instead of being arranged in zigzag fashion, as in my patented arrangement. I find that on some accounts this improved arrangement is preferable, inasmuch as it lessens the liability of the draw-cord to catch in the loops, and admits of the speedy and easy preparation of the upper.

In the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 is a view of a portion of an upper prepared in accordance with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a like view of the same with the draw-cord removed, so as to show more clearly the position assumed by the loop-thread. Fig. 3 is a plan of an upper lasted according to my improvement.

, In the drawings the parts are of somewhat exaggerated size, so as to show them more clearly.

In the several figuresA is the upper, or is the draw-cord, and b is the loop-thread.

The draw-cord is laid upon one of the faces of the upper, near to and along the edge. It forms no part of the stitch. The loop-thread is represented as applied by a lock-stitch machine in the present instance; a chain-stitch may be employed, however, if desired. Those portions of the loop-thread between the points where the needle passes through the upper may be considered as the loops, and the draw-cord, as it is laid upon the upper, passes through the successive loops from the same side. It is laid straight, and the loop-thread is drawn taut over it, so as to hold it down upon the face of the upper. The result is that while the line of stitches 0 is straight the loopthread which forms part of the stitch passes around or over the draw-cord in the form of a continuous spiral as shown. In order to secure this result, all that is needed is that the one sh all take aturn around the other during the intervals between the stitches. This can readily be accomplished when using a sewing-machine for the purpose of forming the loops by stitching, by employing in conjunction therewith a guide-eye for the draw-cord, arranged and connected with some moving part of the machine in such manner that it shall be caused to rotate around the path of the needle as an axis, being so timed in its movements with respect to those of the needle that it shall lay the drawcord around theneedle-thread in the requisite way. Mechanism oi this kind,.however, is not here illustrated or claimed, inasmuch as I shall make the same the subject of a separate application for Letters Patent.

What I here claim as new and of my own invention is- The combination, with a boot or shoe upper, of the loop-thread I), having each loop locked in place, and the draw-cord laid upon one face of the upper, and passing through the successive loops thereon from the same side, so that the loops shall extend around or over the draw-cord in the form of a continuous spiral, as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 24th day of February, 1885.

'WM. O. GROSS.

Witnesses GEO. R. KELSO, M. BAILEY. 

